The Evolution of Imperial Japan’s War Medals (1875-1945)

[HPL2008]

Many thanks for a well-presented, thorough and highly informative thread!

[JapanX]

T"May not" in the sense of not allowed to.

Many thanks for clearing that up!

[Nick Komiya]

Within the article I made quite a few claims that some of the usual doubters might want to challenge. One that goes contrary to popular belief was that the 1874 War Medal was NOT officially instituted in 1875 along with the Rising Sun. However, those that can read Japanese might rejoice in reading the words of the war medal citation that says "XX has served in the recent campaign in Taiwan, and the War Medal instituted by our Emperor's edict in February of 1875 is being bestowed upon him" and argue that is proof of official sanction.

Note that it is not the April edict that launched the Rising Suns and the blank war medal. I checked all edicts for the period and found that the one the citation referred to was for 20th February only expressing the Emperor's general gratitude for the efforts of his troops in Taiwan and there was absolutely no talk of a war medal. 24 army men had received his word of thanks on that day.

It appears that the army decided to assume a simple Imperial thank you went a long way. As an army specialist had pointed out during the Boxer medal discussions, the 1874 War Medal was introduced in a sloppy manner never officially grounded in legal terms. Here is the reference to February 1875 in the citation.

[Alan M]

Yes , thanks for your time on this fantastic reference Nick .

[Nick Komiya]

Very welcome, Alan.

[Geoff Ward]

Well done!Thank you for your efforts Nick,Regards Geoff

[ghp95134]

...those that can read Japanese might rejoice in reading the words of the war medal citation that says "XX has served in the recent campaign in Taiwan, and the War Medal instituted by our Emperor's edict in February of 1875 is being bestowed upon him" and argue that is proof of official sanction.

..... that would be in the 3rd & 4th line from the right:

日本帝国従軍記章之證
陸軍卿ハ陸軍兵卒下村 實､臺灣ノ
役二従軍セシ＊ヲ具状シ茲二明治八年
二月

February, Meiji 8 [1875]. I can't find that kanji that has the sun radical on the bottom.


And just in case you're curious, his name was Shimomura Minoru
下村 實

This one was entered into the Army Ministry register on 26 December Meiji 9 [Kigen 2530 / 1876] in Tokyo. [If I got that right.....]
--Guy

[Nick Komiya]

They wrote 事 like that in those days. They often even omitted the sun underneath in many documents.

[ghp95134]

They wrote 事 [ghp: ]like that in those days. They often even omitted the sun underneath in many documents.

I just want to quit right now! Thanks Nick, hopefully I can remember that in the future.

--Guy

[Nick Komiya]

See here, Guy. There are some others. https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E5%90...BB%AE%E5%90%8D
Sorry, I was looking at the wrong one from the citation. I meant the one that comes closer to the end like an L upside down .The one you asked about is 旨 (Mune)　and this could be written in many ways in the old days. See here ??? (???) [????] - ???????